


They clipped your wings but forgot your claws

by brightclam



Series: Fire spirit Mick [5]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Episode: s01e10 Progeny, M/M, Suicidal Thoughts, mick looks down on all the legends as they look down on him, this may be some of my anger at season two coming out my bad, trying to patch up their relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-25
Updated: 2017-03-25
Packaged: 2018-10-10 07:32:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10432395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brightclam/pseuds/brightclam
Summary: It takes a little more than a beating to start fixing their relationship. Good thing they've got a mind link, that makes things much easier (and keeps the rest of the team in the dark).





	

**Author's Note:**

> I'm trying not to hate captain canary...I'm struggling.
> 
> Dialouge from here: http://transcripts.foreverdreaming.org/viewforum.php?f=557

\--------

“I trust that you're comfortable, Mr. Rory. Or do you answer to Chronos these days?”

 

It sneers at the captain; so weak and afraid but still trying to bare his teeth. As if it could be comfortable in this damned ship, so small and constraining where before it had an entire planet to roam. The only thing that made its containment bearable before was being close to Len all the time.

 

But it’s mate hasn’t come to see it. Most of the others have, peering at it like its a zoo animal.

 

The itch of being restrained that it always felt on the ship has erupted into full blown agony; the tiny cell they’ve locked it in only making it worse. The trapped feeling makes it want to claw at itself, shred the tiny human form it’s taken, do anything to be free, despite what that would do to traitor-mate. It pushes that urge down and tries to focus on the human watching it.

 

“I don't take orders from you. I can't believe I ever did.”

 

It, despite all its power, actually does take orders from a lot of people. First and foremost is Len, of course, but it’s always willing to bow its head and bide its time. Sometimes, the humans that try to command it turn out to be useful.

 

Rip is not one of them.

 

“Well, that's debatable.”

 

It tries very hard not to laugh. Rip is so fooled by the criminal body it wears that he can’t see all the times Mick followed his orders.  If Rip had only treated it right, he could have had a superpower on his side. 

 

“I'm calling on you for two reasons. First, we could use your help.”

 

The legends were so used to it listening to Len’s every order, following his every beck and call, that they think they can order it around like a dog. Well, they thought wrong.

 

“What's the second reason?” 

 

“We're headed to 2147 to engage Savage.”

 

“Is that the second reason or the first? Ah, forget it.”

 

It’s tired of entertaining this conversation; its answer is no.

 

“I owe you an apology, Mr. Rory. I failed you. I brought you along on this mission under false pretenses, in denial of your true nature. And when that nature took its course, I asked Mr. Snart to... deal with you.”

 

It wants to burn Rip for assuming to know anything about its true nature. It wants to show him how wrong he is, let the fire burning underneath its skin explode. Rip wouldn't dare be so condescending then.

 

And the implication that Len had been ordered to deal with Mick, as if it was a chore...its powers are straining against the bonds that the link has wrapped around them. Faintly, it can feel Len pulling it back, sending cooling calm through the link.

 

“My point being, your quarrel should be with me and not with him.”

 

How noble, trying to deflect Mick’s rage from Len to him. But Rip has no idea what he’s talking about, no understanding of how deep the betrayal runs.

 

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I want to kill both of you.”

 

It enjoys watching Rip walk out of the room, shaking his head in defeat.

 

\--------

 

Len doesn’t stop it from pushing into the link. Their link has been reopening, ever since Mick was caught. Part of it is necessity; Len can’t let the bond slip enough that Mick can use its powers to escape. But part of it is the pair gradually leaning on each other like they did before.

 

Mick needs him to keep it sane, as a release valve for the stress of being confined. Len is using it as a motivator, something to drive him forwards. When they’re planning, when it becomes clear that they need to kill the kid, he leans especially hard on Mick.

 

It gives him what he needs, lets all its bloodlust and rage spill through the link. Snart’s drawl curls especially harshly as he speaks:

 

“We kill the little bastard ourselves.”

 

Mick smiles, proud of its mate, and entertained by the upset the suggestion of murder causes is the rest of the team. The old man seems especially angered by it, which is funny, considering he’s the one who roofied his partner.

 

Mick must be thinking too loud; Len huffs out a laugh at that.

 

_ Mick, you know drugging someone isn’t as bad as murder. _

 

_ When its your mate, it is. _

 

_ Stein and Jax aren’t mates; they don’t think about it that way. _

 

Mick snorts.

 

_ They look like mates to me. _

 

It pulls itself back out of Len’s head then. It doesn't want to distract Len from the conversation. A few minutes later, it feels a faint sense of annoyance; looks like there won’t be any murder today.

 

Len is out in the city; Mick can feel him. He’s antsy, amongst the future people who walk with nervous purpose and don’t think for themselves. Mick enjoys it nonetheless, letting its mind slip further and further into the link. It can almost pretend it’s free again, not trapped in this tiny cell.

 

There’s a rush of adrenaline as Len blasts a pair of soldiers and runs for the ship. Mick tries very hard not to be concerned for him and fails miserably. But he makes it back safely, and so does Rip, the boy slung over his shoulder.

 

It’s half asleep, mind trailing Len as he walks through the halls, when the door opens. Sara walks through, steps measured and even. She’s a more pleasant visitor than Rip, but it’s still irritated to be woken up.

 

“Ah, finally, someone who's willing to do a man's job.”

 

Really, that’s a vain hope by now. None of the legends are going to put it out of its misery. Not without its mate’s help, and Len has shown that he’s not going to approve that.

 

“Not why I'm here.”

 

_ What a shocker. _

 

“It's almost funny how you guys keep parading in here like it's some kind of confessional or something.”

 

“It's also not why I'm here.”

 

It’s funny how she thinks being mysterious will get her more interest than Rip. But she’s obviously not going to leave it alone, so that means she’ll be expecting a reply.

 

“Okay, I'll bite.”

 

“Everybody's out there arguing about whether or not we should kill this kid, because no one thinks he can change, which made me think of you. You know no one thinks you can change. That's why you're in here.”

 

If they knew what it was, they would understand that it doesn’t change unless it wants to, and then maybe they wouldn’t be so annoying.

 

“The only reason I'm in here is if I get out, I'm gonna give Snart some payback he's not walking away from.”

 

It’s an easy line, the one the time masters had pressed into its surface layers. They thought they’d buried it deep, made Mick their own. It had no reason to show them how incorrect that was.

 

Some part of it is still unimaginably angry, wants to make Len hurt and apologize. But it isn’t going to kill its mate; if it wanted to, it would have done so already. It could sever the link any time it wants, and Len wouldn’t be able to anything about it.

 

“He saved your life.”

 

“He wussed out on killing me, not the same thing. He marooned me.”

 

Still, the way the Time Masters had poured themselves into it and made its meat suit dance to their tune makes its skin crawl. Having a human body made it weak, let them get hooks into its brain. It would have rather have died than be faced with that humiliation, that corruption. But it’s not like they gave it a choice.

 

“It's not like he had many choices. You know, while you were busy selling us out to a homicidal time pirate, Leonard and I almost died. He was thinking about you, told me about your partnership, your friendship.”

 

Ah yes, the one who had managed to get Len to talk. If she thought he had fully opened up to her, she’s very wrong. And now she’s here, playing the merciful hero trying to reunite the friends, while not knowing anything.

 

“Did it make you weepy? You think it's gonna make me weepy?”

 

“He's your friend, a loyal one. You should know that.”

 

Friend is such a little word, that humans had such an attachment to. Hearing its relationship with Len called friendship is deeply insulting. It wants her to go away, right now.

 

“Well, thank you. I'll work it out with him as soon as I can.”

 

It’s sarcastic and fake, a clear dismissal. She takes it as what it is and turns to leave. It can’t resist one last parting shot:

 

“Oh, killing a kid, not very hero-like.”

 

A few minutes later, It feels the Waverider lurch as the jumpship takes off. It’s just peering into Len’s mind to figure out what that was all about when the link slams closed.

 

\---------

 

Len can feel Mick shifting in the back of his head, but he shuts the link as soon as he hears Sara approaching. He gets the feeling that what she’s going to say, he might not want Mick to hear. He tries to turn the conversation to Rip as she comes in the door:

 

“No luck finding our homicidal captain?”

 

“Gideon's still searching, but I have a feeling Rip's not gonna be found if he doesn't want to be.”

 

“So what are you doing down here?”

 

It’s a small jab, trying to get her to back off. She doesn’t listen.

 

“Don't you think you at least owe him a conversation?”

 

“We had our conversation while he was Chronos, and he made his feelings about me very clear.”

 

He still hasn’t forgiven Mick for chaining him, or for threatening Lisa. He knows it was tortured and manipulated by the Time Masters, but it said it would kill his baby sister. That isn’t something he can’t just let go of.

 

“And what about your feelings?”

 

“About you?”

 

It’s an easy, quick distraction. She doesn’t take the bait.

 

“About Mick.” 

 

“I don't have any feelings about Mick.”

 

That has to be the most bald faced lie he’s ever told. His insides are roiling with feelings for Mick, but she doesn’t need to know that.

 

“Look, it didn't seem that way when we were dying in the engine room of hypothermia.”

 

She just isn’t going to let this go.

 

“Look, if you want to ease your guilty conscience, that's your business, but he's still the same son of a bitch he was when you all wanted me to put him down.” 

 

There’s more anger in him than just the anger focused on Mick. He’s angry at the team, too. For so quickly placing the murderer label on him, for not letting him finish the job when it need to be done.

 

“I wasn't the one who mentioned marooning Rory. You did. It's obviously still weighing on your conscience. So stop being an ass and go deal with it.”

 

Leaving Mick to the Time Masters is weighing on his conscience, but there isn’t anything he can do about that now. The hurt had already been inflicted.

 

_ The hurt… _

 

That gives him an idea.

 

\---------

 

Mick’s head snaps up as soon as Len steps into the room.

 

“What do you want?”

 

The link is filled with anger and disbelief and  _ I thought you weren’t coming. _

 

“People seem to think we should have a heart-to-heart.”

 

They don’t talk about feelings. Why would they, when they can already feel them in each other’s head?

 

“We don't have hearts. Where does that leave us?”

 

The fire wrapped around his heart tightens at that, pulsing in time with Mick’s heartbeat.

 

“I've got a dozen reasons for killing you. You've got a dozen and one for killing me, so…”

 

They need to clean the slate, push aside all that’s happened and agree on how they’re going to go forwards.

 

“All the talk in the world is not gonna change a thing.”

 

Words haven’t ever been enough before.

 

“Exactly, here's my proposal. I open this cell, we let our fists do the talking.”

 

Give Mick a chance to work through its anger, let all its helplessness and hurt at the hands of the Time Masters come out. Who would be a better receptacle than Len?

 

“When I kill you…”

 

They both know that’s an empty threat.

 

“You take the jump ship, make your escape, live out the rest of your life anywhere you like.”

 

If Mick we're human, that’s what it would do. But if it does actually kill Len, then it won’t be flying off to live it’s life. It’ll either be trying to adjust to a whole new link with a new mate, or it’ll be an all-consuming firestorm that sweeps across the universe. Len is offering it those options, knowing that neither are very attractive.

 

“Hmm. And if you kill me, well, it's better than being locked up in this place like some kind of circus freak.”

 

That brings back the anger, Mick’s rage at being caged and at not being put down before the Time Masters used it. Len lets the anger wash over him, prepares himself for the beating he’s sure to get in a few seconds.

 

“I take that as a yes.”

 

“Sound the bell.”

 

He opens the door and steps into the cell. Mick lunges, bloodlust a red mist inside its head.

 

Len fights back; he doesn’t take anything lying down, not even from Mick. But Mick is stronger, more skilled and much angrier. A punch to his stomach, to his face, and then he’s thrown to the ground. Mick’s on top of him; his instincts scream at him to buck, to try to get free. Instead, he lies still, leaves himself open to Mick’s punches. 

 

He’s handing himself to Mick on a platter.

 

He doesn’t really expect Mick to stop so soon; it’s a vicious thing at the best of times. But it does stop, fist pulled back. It stares at him, their matching confusion melding together into a giant tangle of feelings. Then Mick rolls off of him, falling down beside him.

 

“We had a deal, Mick. Kill me and you walk. It's what you wanted, isn't it, to get off the team?”

 

_ If you don’t kill me, you can’t leave. You’ll be stuck at my side again, stuck with the team again. _

 

“I don't know what I want anymore.”

 

_ You betrayed me, left me unmoored. All I wanted was to be at your side. _

 

“Truth is, it doesn't matter.”

 

Fear seizes Len; he’s never heard Mick sound defeated like this before.

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“Whether I stay or leave, I'm dead. We're all dead. Since I failed to bring you in, the Time Master's want to bring me in, and this time, they're not gonna take any chances.”

  
_ Theyre coming for you, for the team. They won’t stop until you’re dead. _


End file.
